One lap after the start of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso, who started from seventh position, caught up with Esteban Ocon who started fifth, but was overtaken by George Russell, getting into a controversial fight between teammates.
For several laps, Alonso and Ocon carried out a very intense battle in which both lost many seconds and, what is even worse, they were too close to going into the wall, being able to end the race of both before time.
From the pit wall, Otmar Szafnauer , new Alpine team manager, put his hands on his head and asked his drivers for calm by radio after several clashes, however, he said that everything worked as planned, although he acknowledged that they lost longer than they really would have liked.
“Yeah, well that’s exactly what we have to try and see, we lost time because it was so easy to tail each other and overtake on this track. And I think that’s something new for everyone.”
“So that’s exactly the kind of thing we have to look at. You know, when do you tell the drivers not to stop overtaking each other? Because that takes a while.”
“It was a fair fight, which is what the fans want to see. We told them from the beginning that they could compete. I mean, the only reason I did this [putting his hands on his head] was because we were losing a little more. of time than I expected.
“That was due to the characteristics of this track and also because the cars can now follow each other more easily, which was the aim of the new rules. Now they can overtake each other, lap after lap, so we have to see what happens in Melbourne. And then we’ll see what to do.”
“Here the walls are close, but hey, they did exactly what we talked about before the race. In short, if Fernando hadn’t dropped out, we would have been sixth and seventh. And we would have given the fans, who gave it to them, a little show. It’s about that, to compete, “added the director of Alpine .
Continuing with his statements, Otmar Szafnauer explained that the situation would be very different if his two drivers found themselves fighting for position in the final part of the race, being free at the front and free at the back, in no man’s land.
“At the end of the race, when there are 10 or even 15 laps to go, there’s no point in changing positions if you can’t catch the car in front and no one can catch you, then you hold position there.
“But that’s really hard to do at the beginning of the race because you can’t predict what’s going to happen. But towards the end of the race, if there are 10, 15 or 20 laps to go, you have to try to maximize the points for the team”, the Romanian concluded in reference to the battle that Alonso and Ocon experienced at the Jeddah Circuit.
